The cast iron-coloured sea is corrugated with waves as our Zodiac boat returns to the cruise ship. As we bounce over a particularly large chop, I am splatted with sea spray, and the floor of the rigid inflatable boat (RIB) starts to slosh. “It’s just water,” our smiling helmsman shouts over the sound of the protesting engine as another wave thwacks him. “Welcome to Patagonia.”
This five-day Australis cruise through the fjords of Tierra del Fuego, at the southern tip of Chile, charts a course from Punta Arenas, to the Argentine port of Ushuaia. I’ve cruised the Norwegian fjords three times, but this is unlike any itinerary I have experienced there. Not only is this part of the world more remote, but it feels wilder and more unpredictable.
“There are four seasons an hour,” a crew member tells me when I get back from the drenching Zodiac ride. The sky had been lapis blue when we set out.
The scenery of Patagonia’s fjords is not as green as Norway’s, nor is it as vertiginous – although there are serrated mountain ridges and snow-slicked peaks to be seen. And while Norwegian itineraries tend to delve into brightly painted fishing ports, such as Bergen and Stavanger, Chilean sailings take you away from human habitation. This voyage is also a taster of Antarctic expedition cruises, without the long and often turbulent crossing of the Drake Passage. It also costs a fraction of the price of most Antarctic cruises.
